My Always Growing Collection

[Tyrannoraptor]

So, I decided to start by posting some of the more interesting pieces I have. The obvious choice for the start are my favorite ones, and I'm starting with my most recend addition, a 2.08 inch (straight line measurement) Tyrannosaurus rex tooth. The photos aren't the best, I'll try to take some better ones later.

It's not that much, not a top quality specimen (unlike so many seen on this site, I hope their owners realise how lucky they are ), but it doesn't matter to me, as I've waited for so long to get something like this. It wasn't that expensive compared to how much I could have paid for a T. rex tooth (but my wallet was still considerably lighter after buying it, it was just within my budget range). The photos don't do it justice though, it looks better in person.

I almost forgot to give you some info on it - it is from the Hell Creek formation, Harding County, South Dakota. And apparently it was found recently, approximately 10 kilometers away from the place where Sue was unearthed

I'll follow up with more of my fossils later when i find some better pics

Edited November 1, 2011 by Tyrannoraptor

[Cris]

Very nice tooth, Tyrannoraptor! Thanks for sharing it and we'll be looking forward to seeing other pieces of your collection.

[Auspex]

An honest-to-goodness Rex tooth...wow!

How could anyone not get a chill holding one of them?

[Tyrannoraptor]

Glad you folks like the tooth. It was a dream come true for me when i got it

the photos aren't too good though. When I try to take photos using the close up mode instead of automatic (my camera isn't anything special, it's among the cheaper ones) you have to hold it perfectly still. Every movement, no matter how small, makes the photo blurry. But i think I found the solution to the problem, as I found something that could be used to hold the camera completely still, so I might take some better pics tomorrow.

Now here are two photos of an Allosaurus premax tooth that I bought at the Munich show last year. It's around 4.6 cm long (or 1.8 inch), and in quite a good shape, only the very tip is a bit worn, it was deffinitely worth the price (it was only a bit cheaper than the T. rex tooth i bought at this year's Munich show). I was told that teeth like this one are quite rare. I'm very pleased with it, too

[Auspex]

I feel like I'm 7 years old again...that is the year I built "dinosaurs" in the yard with scraps of lumber, and one of them was Allosaur

Is the wear on the tip "feeding wear"?

[Tyrannoraptor]

It could be, there certainly is visible feeding wear, as part of the serrations under the tip (on the front edge) have been smoothened out. It made me think that this could be the reason for the smooth tip, too.

I gotta find some better pics of my dino fossils. I don't have that many dinosaur fossils, but the ones I have are the ones that always mattered to me the most - T. rex, Allosaurus, Triceratops, some African raptor species (I have a small raptor tooth and also a small claw, both from the Kem Kem beds), and also Carcharodontosaurus (a bit larger than my rex, but much, much thinner) and a small Spinosaurus tooth still in matrix. I also have a Mosasaurus beaugei tooth and an Ichtyosaurus vertebrae (not realy well preserved, it's still in the matrix together with a few belemnites. Oh, and a Keichousaurus hui (original, confirmed by a friend of mine, who is a palaeontologist). That's as far as my collection of mesosoic reptiles goes for now, but I acquired most of these pieces during the last 2-3 years or so.

Otherwise my collection spans from the cambrium period onwards, pretty much 'till today

[Tyrannoraptor]

Ok, a few more pics:

- Two photos of a T. rex tooth (on the left) compared to a Carcharodontosaurus saharicus tooth (on the right); on the second pic the teeth positions are changed.

- Two photos of an African Dromaeosaur (raptor) claw - could anyone help me out, is this a hand or foot claw misidentification, it is actually a pterosaur wing claw, Siroccopteryx (it measures about 1.3 inch)?

- Two photos of a Triceratops horridus tooth I bought along with the T. rex tooth. It wasn't that expensive and has some repair done to it, but still a nice addition.

Edited July 21, 2012 by Tyrannoraptor

[Tyrannoraptor]

Ok, a few more fossils

- an irregular sea urchin from eocene, it's about 3 cm in diameter

- a partial cave bear canine

- a jaw, presumably deer (not sure though; it's about 3 million years old)

- 2 photos of my petrified wood fossil; this is actually the first fossil in my collection, was given to me by my mum, she found it in her elementary school years (she found burried in coal rocks), it's actually a really nice fossil, I think it's from oligocene, but I can't tell for sure

All fossils except from the petrified wood piece were found by me. Well, actually the deer jaw was found by my friend, who is a palaeontologist, but he gave it to me (I was there though, he organised a fossil hunting trip and I participated too, I found some more deer bones but I gave them away to others who hadn't find anything and took only the jaw bone, because it was the best)

Edited November 2, 2011 by Tyrannoraptor

[Tyrannoraptor]

Now some more fossils:

- a regular sea urchin from eocene (the same site as the one in the previous post); this one would be quite huge if it was whole, somewhere between 6 and 7 cm in diameter; I was told that regular sea urchins from eocene aren't that common, at least not here

- a triassic clam, a bit less than 5 cm wide; It's entirely preserved, I found it on another fossil hunt, and it was the best clam found that day by anyone; It's a really good find, as usually the triassic clams aren't in such a good shape, more often just a stone core can be found than a whole clam

These two were my finds.

I'm also sending two better photos of my Rex tooth, they're much sharper and even the serrations can be seen in some parts

[Auspex]

I like the breadth of your collection; very nice. The jaw in matrix is quite an attractive piece.

[Tyrannoraptor]

Thank you, I am happy to hear that

I really like that jaw piece too, it's a beautiful piece for display. The jaw itself is a bit fragile, though luckilly that's not the case with the matrix.

I have some more cave bear material, too. Some found by myself on a fossil hunt (like that canine for example), and some I got as gifts. I found a vertebrae on that fossil hunt too. Funny, everybody almost raced to the layer of dirt to dig, and I just looked down "Hey, a vertebrae..." and picked it up. Others just went "Where, where?!"

As I said before, I try collect as many different fossils as possible, I'd like to have that kind of a collection that would span over entire (or at least most of) history of our planet. It's an ambitious goal, I know, but in time my goal could be accomplished. My oldest fossil is a cambrian trilobite from Czech republic, quite a large one too (Hydrocephalus minor). My youngest fossils are leave impressions in travertine stone, could be as young as a couple hundred years.

And now that I finally have THE Holy Grail (well, for me at least), the T. rex tooth, I can focus my attention to my next big wish: finding a Meg tooth by myself. I got my first Meg tooth as a gift from my aunt a couple of years back, she bought it in Rodney Fox's museum when she was in Australia (funny thing, while she was there I hoped she would bring me some fossil or maybe even a shark tooth; so she ticked both those boxes off with that Meg tooth). It's not a top quality specimen and a part of the tooth is missing, but it's still a nice one to have and look at, and not that small either, over 10 cm long (I'll have to measure it again for sure as I think it's a bit bigger than that). But still, I want to find one by myself. I already see this could turn into an obsession...

Unfortunately Meg teeth are extremely rare here, only a few have been found so far. So far I only found some small fossil mako shark teeth (though they're excellently preserved, nearly perfect) near Lasko, but there were some Meg teeth found there before. Oh well, those mako teeth mean a lot to me too, since those were the first shark teeth I found, something I've wanted for quite a long time.

Edited November 2, 2011 by Tyrannoraptor

[piranha]

Thanks for posting a few of your fantastic fossils and look forward to seeing the large Hydrocephalus trilobite. Your collection strategy has long been my approach to paleontology that can encompass the entire range of geologic time in which fossils are discovered. That broad range of diversity will certainly keep you busy for a lifetime.

Glad to have you on board.

[Tyrannoraptor]

I'm glad to be here, too. It's such a friendly place, and the moderators and admins are doing their job very well.

I was wondering, does anyone have some good pdf articles about T. rex and Allosaurus? I might write an article about these two animals (actually I have already been writing an article about Allosaurus, along with drawing a reconstruction of its head for the article) for the publication issued by Society of Friends of minerals and fossils (Slovenian organisation, I translated the name), and I could use some more info. I've already done an article on Carcharodontosaurus before, I've also written some of my own hypothesis (or basically guesses), which in the end turned out to be surprisingly accurate .I guess all the years of interest in dinosaurs helped; I always try to draw my own conclusions, especially when I get a new tooth or something, I always look at its characteristics and try to figure out what it would be good for and how it could have worked. It's all very, very interesting to me.

[Auspex]

Have a browse through this collection of PDFs: My Link

You should find something you can use.

[Tyrannoraptor]

Now that's a lot of articles! Thanks, I'm sure I'll find something useful

[Tyrannoraptor]

Forgot to mention whom I bought my 3 most interesting dino teeth (Allosaurus, Triceratops and of course the t. rex tooth) from. I bought them from George Heslep. Last year I bought that Allosaurus premax from him at the Munich show, we had quite a nice discussion, and at this year's Munich show he remembered me right away. He's a really nice guy, and you can't miss him, as the moment you see the fossils he puts on display you know it's him. I didn't even look anywhere else to buy fossils, went straight to him and then check out the other sellers. I knew if there would be anyone at the show seeling genuine Tyrannosaurus rex teeth, it would be him. The fossils he had were amazing, there was hardly a thing I wouldn't buy if I had enough money. But I got what I wanted anyway, the T. rex. I still can't believe it...

We had a nice discussion again, the man certainly seems to know his stuff

[Tyrannoraptor]

Time for some new pics

First here are two photos of the Keichousaurus hui skeleton I bought at the Munich show last year. It's approximately 14 cm long. It may not be the best looking of Keichousaurus skeletons, but it IS original. I heard there are many fakes floating around.

It's one of my favorites from my collection, the details are so nice.

Edited December 25, 2011 by Tyrannoraptor

[Tyrannoraptor]

And now some more fossils, this time they are all my own finds (actually all of them were found at the same site and the same day too, from carboniferous age):

- Pseudophillipsia trilobites (partials). This was my own finding. Found them in the Karavanke Alps on the 27th May, 2000. This fossil marked the beginning of my serious collecting career, and I still see it as one of the most important pieces in my collection. It's quite a cool piece.

- A small brachiopod

- Fossil leaves (not sure what plant they belonged to though)

- 2 pics of a fossil seed; in one of them the seed is taken out of its matrix, it can be done pretty easily. Not quite sure what plant it belonged to either.

Hope you folks like the photos

Edited November 6, 2011 by Tyrannoraptor

[Tyrannoraptor]

Aaaand some more (the scale is in centimeters by the way):

- A large Megalodon tooth; this is the one I got as a gift a few years back, i don't know its exact origin, it was bought at Rodney Fox's shark museum in Australia. I probably don't need to mention how much this tooth made my day when I got it

- A small Meg tooth, I bought it at a local fossil show. It was pretty cheap, too. Unfortunately the seller didn't know its origin

- Hydrocephalus minor, the largest (and oldest, aside from a rock with multiple Ellipsocephalus hoffi) trilobite in my collection. It's a cambrian trilobite, and also the oldest fossil in my collection. The place of its origin is (like Ellipsocephalus) is Jince, Czech Republic. Bought it at the same local fossil show as that smaller Meg.

[Tyrannoraptor]

Two more pictures (I've taken these some time ago, found them on my computer today)

- A selection of more or less entirely preserved sea urchin tests I found at "my" site. Age: eocene. The largest of them measures a bit over 3 cm in diameter.

- Shark teeth (Isurus oxyrhynchus hastalis). Age: miocene. I found these myself, and while they're small they're just beautifully preserved. They mean a lot to me, as I've always wanted to find some fossil shark teeth by myself. They are from near Lasko, Slovenia (apparently you can find a Meg tooth there, but you have to be extremely lucky, as maybe only one or two are known from this site). The scale is in centimeters.

[piranha]

Thanks for posting the fantastic Hydrocephalus trilobite. Spectacular big bug!

[Tyrannoraptor]

I know, right? I mean the size of that thing amazes me, but to think that there were even larger ones... That's the best thing about fossils and palaeontology, all the amazing stuff you can discover by looking into the past. For me doing research on my own is just as important as the fossils themselves

By the way, I've seen your T. rex tooth in the USA dinosaur teeth thread. I'm speechless, that's one hell of a find, congratulations! Oh, the things I'd do to have an opportunity of finding something like that for myself...

[Tyrannoraptor]

AAAAGRH! I was just putting my Glycymeris bimaculata (it's in one of the pics) back on the shelf, and I accidentally pushed my partial cave bear canine off the shelf. It shattered

Luckilly it didn't break to a bazillion pieces, and I was able to glue it back together (I used revell's glue for plastic models, as I found out that it works brilliantly when something like this happens, and because of that thin metal tube or needle you can get the glue precisely where you want it). The result is satisfying, as it looks just like before the accident. Still, you gotta hate it when something like this happens...

Anyway, to the photos:

- For the first photo I actually have no idea what it is. It could be just a rock that was shaped this way by coincidence, but it's unlike anything else I've seen so far. Quite heavy, too, and since I found it near a site that was populated in the stone age (and later) I thought it could be an artifact of some sort. Not sure, though, any help with it would be appreciated.

- The next two photos are of a small piece of rock I found at the same site as the rock in the first photo. Looks like it could be some sort of a flint tool or an arrow head, but a more primitive one. What makes this theory more plausible is the stone of which it is made, as it is not something that would be here naturally, it had to be brought here from somewhere else. It's very smooth type of stone, looks like the same material as the confirmed flint tools I've seen.

- Ellipsocephalus hoffi trilobites, from Jince, Czech republic. I bought this piece at a local fossil show. Age: cambrium

- Neometacanthus. The best looking trilobite i have, it's a beautiful little bug. originates from Morocco, and after inspection under UV light some repaired cracks can be seen, it appears to be glued back together (and I must say that the restoration has been done really well). But the fossil itself is original, non-modified. I also got it from a trustworthy seller, who happens to be a friend of mine. Age: devonian

- Glycymeris bimaculata. the biggest fossil clam I have, it is huge, and very, very well preserved. It's a beautiful piece, one of my best fossils. I bought it at a local fossil show. Age: pliocene

- Mammoth molar. Bought it at the same show as Glycymeris clam. It was found in the North sea.

edited: that should be Neometacanthus, not Neomethalantus

Edited November 7, 2011 by Tyrannoraptor

[Cpt. Nemo]

I really like our trilobites !

And it's a impressive mammoth molar that you have !

My grilfriend have wrinten a short article about mammoth and men, but in French, sorry.

[Tyrannoraptor]

Well I don't speak French, but my mum did learn the language in high school, perhaps she could help me out a bit. Otherwise maybe google translator could work (to a degree)

That molar is huge, but the Glycymeris isn't far behind in size, it's enormous too. Both are very prized by me.

And as I found out I had quite some luck getting that Neometacanthus trilobite. I bought it a few years ago at a smaller annual local fosil show (I visit the show every year and despite the event being small you'd be surprised at what you can get there) and it didn't cost me that much. Now though I've seen that these trilobites can catch fairly high prices!

I'll soon be on the hunt for some more trilobites, I hope to find a whole trilobite on my own; so far I found only that piece with two pygidas and their impressions